Apparatus for marking coated electrodes



Dec. 14, 1954 E, HUNT 2,696,781

APPARATUS FOR MARKING onzo ELECTRODES Fild April 26. 1949 2 Shee ts-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR. fOWA 120 N Hwvr Y Dec. 14, 1954 E. M. HUNT APPARATUS FOR MARKING COATED ELECTRODES 2 Sheets Sheet 2 Filed April 26, 1949 Mum Mmmm $5 M IN V EN TOR.

f. Mw n m APPARATUS FQR IVEARKING CQATED ELEXITRQDES Edward M. Hunt, Macedonia, @hio, assir nor to The G'Jhampion Rivet Company, Cieveiand, Ohio, 2. corporation of Ohio Application April 26, 1M9, Eierial $59,623

11 Llaiins. (iii. fillitt) This invention relates to an apparatus for printing indicia on coated electrodes. It is highly important that coated electrodes be marked with some indieia indicating the character of the coating as electrodes with different coatings are used for different operations in welding.

It is an object of the present invention to provide very simple and effective means for acting on the electrodes one after another as they are delivered side by side from the baking oven and to imprint on them the desired character indication and discharge them ready for packing.

To the above end I have provided a printing roller carrying indicia arranged at intervals about its periphery and provided means for separating the electrodes as they roll down an incline one after another from the baking oven and then forcing them to the printing roller and causing them to roll in contact with the roller to receive the printing impression, after which the electrodes are discharged ready for packing.

A preferred embodiment of my invention is illustrated in the drawings and hereinafter more fully described.

In these drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation partly in section of my marking apparatus; Fig. 2 is a plan thereof; Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section through the printing and inking members of the apparatus, the position of this view being indicated by the line 33 on Fig. 2, the view being on a larger scale than Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a trans verse vertical section in a plane indicated by the line 4-4 of Fig. 3, this view showing the printing roller in contact with the electrode being printed.

In these drawings, indicates a suitable frame or bed plate carrying upright corner posts 11 which support the separating and printing mechanisms, to be described later. Mounted on the bed plate are suitable bearing brackets 12 carrying shafts 13 and 14, each of which is equipped with a pair of belt pulleys 15 and 16, and a pair of belts 17 and 18 run over the aligned pulleys respectively. One of the shafts, as 14, is equipped with a sprocket wheel 19 over which passes a chain from a source of power, not shown. By this means the belts are progressed.

The upper reaches of the belts 17 and it? rest on a horizontal plate 20 supported by brackets 21 adjustably clamped by bolts 22 to the sides of the frame. This upper reach supports the electrodes, indicated at A in Figs. 1, 3 and 4. These are carried toward the left hand end of the machine by cooperation of the upper reaches of the belts 17 and 18 and the under reach of belts carried by the printing mechanism.

25 in Figs. 1 and 2 indicates suitable inclined rails down which the electrodes shown at A may roll by gravity in edge contact with each other as they come from the baking oven. My apparatus grasps the foremost of the electrodes rolling down the rails 25 and separates and discharges them onto the upper reaches of the belts 17 and 18.

The two upright corner posts 11 at the right hand end of the frame carry a suitable cross bar at the top and the posts 11 at the other end carry a cross bar 31 at a somewhat lower level. Secured to the cross bar 31 is a bracket 32 having a pair of downwardly extending arms 33. Pivotally mounted in these arms by a horizontal shaft 34, adjustably occupying vertical slots 35 in the arms, is a carriage on which is mounted the printing member with its driving belts and associated parts.

The carriage 40 is shown as comprising a pair of flanged side plates 41 secured together adjacent the pivotal axis by an intermediate flanged plate 42. The top flanges of 2,696,781 Patented i i, l54

ice

the side plate may be curled about the shaft 34. At its far end the carriage is provided with a cross bar 44 and is supported at this far end by a threaded bolt 45 which extends upwardly from the cross bar 44 to the cross bar 30 and receives a wing nut 46. Surrounding the bolt 45 is a helical compression spring 47 adjusted by a nut 48 which supports it at the lower end, the upper end abutting the upper side of the cross bar 30. By this means the carriage 4GP is effectively supported but may swing upwardly about the shaft 34 as an axis. The spring 47 normally maintains the carriage in whatever position is allotted by the nut 46.

Mounted in the carriage 49 are a pair of parallel shafts 50 and 51. Each of these shafts carries a pair of belt pulleys as 52 and 53 and over aligned pulleys endless belts 54 and 55 extend. The lower reach of these belts is adapted to coact with the electrodes resting on the upper reach of the belts 17 and 18 and thus propel the electrodes towards the left.

The belts 54 and 55 are maintained taut by adjusting the position of the shaft 51. As indicated in Fig. 1,. this shaft is journaled at its ends in plates 58 slidably mounted on the carriage 40 and adjusted by screws 57 and locked by clamping screws 59. The loosening of the latter screws allows the adjustment screws to tighten the belts whenever desired.

Mounted on the central portion of the shaft 51 is a wheel 60 having a soft yielding tire, preferably of sponge rubber. This tire is adapted to engage electrodes as they come down the support 25, as indicated particuiarly in Fig. 3, and is rotated in such direction and at such speed that it grasps the electrodes and throws them one after the other onto the belts 17 and 18, at the same time separating them, as indicated in Fig. 3.

Suitable means are provided for rotating the shafts 50 and 51 and the wheel 69 and for driving the belts 54 and be. nor this purpose 1 have shown a motor mounted on a supporting plate 71. As shown in Fig. 1, and indicated in broken lines in Fig. 2, this plate 71 is shown as secured at one end to an overhanging portion of the top bar 30 and at the other end to a bracket 72 secured to the adjacent corner post 11. The motor armature is suitably geared with a transverse shaft 73 which carries a sprocket wheel 74. A sprocket chain '75 connects this wheel with a pinion 76 on the shaft 50.

I provide a freely rotatable printing drum 80 mounted on a shaft 31 carried in the side members 41 of the car riage 40. The printing drum 80 is surrounded by a rubber band 82 on which at short intervals are repeated identical indications to be printed, as indicated at 83 in Fig. 4. The printing drum is formed at its ends with a pair of belt pulleys 85 and 86 across which the belts and extend. The lower reaches of these belts are drawn by the driving pulleys taut against the under-surface of the belt grooves 85 and 86 on the printing drum and thus rotate that drum at the same peripheral speed as the travel of the belts.

The lower reaches of the belts 54 and 55 move in the same direction as the upper reaches of the belts 1'7 and 18 but at a very much faster speed. For instance, I have found a speed 20 feet per minute for the conveyor belts 17 and 13 and 136 feet per minute for the printer belts 54 and S5 to be satisfactory. The result is that the cooperating belts below and above the electrodes cause the electrodes, traveling towards the left in Fig. 3, to roll about their axes as they pass under the printing drum in contact with the indications S3 thereon and thus receive a printed impression. The indications 33 on the drum are closer together than the length of the periphery of the electrode, so that each electrode in rolling past the drum must be contacted by at least one of the indicia on the drum.

Coacting with the printing surface of the drum 80 is the ink roller 90. This roller has an absorbent surface surrounding a perforated cylindrical shell 91. This shell is hollow and forms a receptacle for ink, indicated at B in Fig. 3. Ink may be supplied to the roller through a normally plugged opening in one of the ends of the roller indicated for instance at 93, Fig. 1.

The inking roller 90 is carried by a shaft which is mounted in inclined slots 96 in supporting brackets 97 carried by the pivoted carriage. The inking roller 3 accordingly normally rests oy gravity with its inking surrace in contact with the print-drum.

'lhe slotted support for the inking roller enables it to be readily shoved back out of the way to allow the changing of the rubber character-band on the drum. This change may readily be made by withdrawing the drum shaft 81 and removing the drum and then removing the band from the drum and replacing it by another band. This enables the change of characters to be readily effected for printing electrodes having dilferent coatings. For different sizes of electrodes one merely adjusts the ggsition of the pivoted carriage 40 by turning the nut it will be understood from the description given that l have provided a simple, rapidly operating, automatic apparatus adapted to act on the electrodes one after the other as they roll down the discharge rails from the baking oven, and readily separate them and feed them onto a conveyor belt where they are carried and rolled beneath the printing mechanism to receive the imprint and are then discharged. The apparatus is readily adjustable for dilterent sizes of electrodes, and the printing members may be readily changed to imprint proper characters for dilferent natures of coating.

I claim:

1. in a marking machine having means for supporting and moving articles, two pairs of axially spaced pulleys supported in spaced relation from the articles and each pair spaced from the other, two parallel endless belts spaced on aligned pulleys of the pairs, means for driving one pair of pulleys, a marking roller freely supported for rotation between the two pairs of pulleys and the parallel belts, said marking roller having means including marking devices extending closer to said article support than either of said pulleys, said last-mentioned means drivingly engaging each of said belts, each belt extending for a limited distance from either side of the marking roller on the article engaging side thereof substantially parallel to the path of the articles to drivingly engage and momentarily pinch an article on the support for engagement with a marking device.

2. in a marking machine having means for supporting and moving articles, two pairs of axially spaced pulleys supported in spaced relation from the articles and each pair spaced from the other, two parallel endless belts spaced from each other on aligned pulleys of the pairs, means for driving one pair of pulleys to move the endless belts at a faster rate than the article support, a marking roller freely supported for rotation between the two pairs of pulleys and the parallel belts, said marking roller having means extending closer to said article support than either of said pairs of pulleys and having marking devices adapted to engage and mark the articles thereon, said endless belts drivingly engaging said means on the marking roller and extending for a limited distance from either side of the roller on the article-engaging side thereof substantially parallel to the path of the articles to engage and move an article towards and beyond the marking roller relative to the moving port.

3. In a marking machine the combination of a bed, an endless belt mounted for movement on spaced pulleys carried by the bed and having an exposed upper reach for supporting articles thereon, a carriage pivotally mounted on the bed in spaced relation from the upper reach of said belt, said carriage having a pair of pulleys spaced from the belt and from each other along the belt and interconnected by a second belt, means for driving one of said last mentioned pulleys, a marking roller freely supported for rotation in the carriage between said spaced pulleys, said marking roller having means including marking devices extending closer to the article supporting belt than either of said pulleys, said last mentioned means drivingly engaging said second belt, said second belt extending for a limited distance from either side of the roller on the article-engaging side thereof substantially parallel to the path of the articles; to drivingly engage and momentarily pinch the articles on the supporting belt for marking while urging the article toward and beyond the marking roller, and means coacting between said bed and carriage for adjusting the position of the carriage about its pivot and relative to the article support.

4. In a machine for marking electrodes, the combination of a bed, spaced pulleys carried thereby, endless article sup-.

belt conveyors mounted for movement on the pulleys, a plate supporting the upper region of the belt, means for rotating one or the pulleys to cause the belt to travel along said plate, means tor supporting electrodes transversety on the upper region or said conveyor belt, a carriage mounted in a trame above the conveyor belt, said carriage having two pairs of pulleys spaced from the belt and electrodes and from each other along said belt, means for driving one pair of said last-mentioned pulleys, two other belts mounted in spaced relation on aligned pulleys of the pairs, a printing member freely supported tor rotation in the carriage intermediate said two pairs of pulleys, said printing member having means extending closer to the conveyor belt and electrodes than either of said pulleys and drivingly engaging said other belts, said other belts extending tor a limited distance from either side of the roller on the article engaging side thereof substantially parallel to the path of the articles to drivingly engage and urge an electrode toward and beyond the printing member, said printing member having printing devices spacially arranged thereon and adapted to engage theelectrodes for printing on the conveyor belt.

5. in a marking machine, the combination of a frame, two spaced pairs of pulleys carried thereby, two endless article supporting belts mounted in spaced relation on aligned pulleys of said pairs, means for supporting the upper reaches of the belts between the pulleys about which the belt extends, means for rotating one of the pairs of pulleys to progress the belt along the support, two other pairs of pulleys supported in spaced relation from said j article supporting belts and from each other along the belts, a printing roller located for free rotation between said other two pairs of pulleys, other endless belts spaced from each other on aligned pulleys of said other pairs, said printing roller having pulleys rigid therewith extending closer to said article supporting belts than either of said other pairs of pulleys, and drivingly engaging the other endless belts about said other pairs of pulleys, means for rotating one of the pairs of said other pairs of pulleys, said printing roller having marking members between its rigid pulleys adapted to engage articles on the supporting belts, the other endless belts on said other pairs of pulleys extending for a limited distance from either side of the roller on the article en- 7 gaging side thereof substantially parallel to the path of the articles to drivingly engage an article for relative movement and marking on the supporting belts.

6. In a marking machine, the combination of a frame, a conveyor thereon comprising two pairs of pulleys carried thereby, two endless belts mounted on aligned pulleys of said pairs, means for supporting the upper reaches of the belts to carry articles between the pulleys about which the belts extend, means for rotating one of the pairs of pulleys to progress the belt along the support, a carriage pivotally supported by the frame, a spring pressing the carriage toward the conveyor belt, a screw for moving the carriage in opposition to the spring,

- said carriage supporting two pairs of carriage pulleys in spaced relation from said conveyor belts and from each other along the belts, two other endless belts mounted on aligned members of the carriage pulleys, a printing roller located for free rotation in the carriage between the two pairs of carriage pulleys, means for rotating one of the pairs of carriage pulleys to progress the corresponding belts, said printing roller carrying pulleys rigid therewith and extending closer to said conveyor belts than either of said carriage pulleys, said other endless belts on aligned members of the carriage pulleys drivingly engaging the printing roller pulleys and extending for a limited distance from either side of the roller on the article engaging side thereof substantially parallel to the top of the articles to drivingly engage an article on the conveyor belts for parallel movement relative thereto, said printing roller having relief printing members between its pulleys adapted to periodically engage an article during relative movement on the conveyor belts, and

means coacting with said printing roller for inking the printing members thereon.

7. in a marking apparatus having means for separating electrodes from a group and successively feeding them in aligned spaced relation onto a conveyor moving transverse to their axis, the combination of a pair of spaced parallel endless conveyor belts for receiving the electrodes, said belts being comparatively narrow to suprd port the electrodes at opposite ends, means for progressing said conveyor belts in a direction away from the electrode feed, another pair of spaced parallel endless belts supported on pulleys in parllel spaced relation from said article conveying belts, a printing roller located for free rotation on a transverse axis in the space between each of said other pairs of belts and having on its periphery a set of marking devices extending parallel with the roller axis, said roller periphery spaced from the article conveying belts a lesser distance than the supporting pulleys of said other endless belts, and drivingly engaging said other pair of belts, means for rotating the pulleys to drive the printing roller in the same general direction as the electrode supporting region of the conveyor belts, said other pair of endless belts extending for a limited distance from either side of the roller on the article engaging side thereof substantially parallel to the path of the articles to drivingly engage and momentarily pinch successive electrodes against the conveyor belts for engagement with the marking devices.

8. in a machine for marking articles while supported in spaced relation on the upper reach of a pair of transversely spaced moving parallel belts, a second pair of transversely spaced parallel belts surmounting the articles in parallel spaced relation from said first-mentioned parallel belts, a marking device freely supported for rotation between the second pair of belts for coaction with successive articles and having means drivingly engaging said second pair of belts, said marking device having means at the point of engagement with said second pair of belts extending closer to the article than the remaining portions of the belt, the lower reach of said second pair of belts extending for a limited distance on either side of the roller substantially parallel to the path of the articles to drivingly engage successive articles each in different regions from the first-mentioned belts, and means for moving the upper reach of the first-mentioned belts and the lower reach of the second pair of belts in the same general direction to momentarily pinch the articles therebetween during coaction between the marking device and successive articles.

9. A machine for marking articles as they are fed one after another onto a movable conveyor by means of a rotary wheel having a yielding peripheral surface for engaging the articles on the forward end of a group, such marking machine comprising driven endless means adapted to engage the articles at a point spaced from the feed wheel, a printing roller freely supported for driving engagement by the endless means in spaced relation from the article conveyor and the article feeding wheel, said printing roller having means at the point of engagement with said endless means extending closer to the articles for engagement on the conveyor than the remaining portions of the endless means, said endless means extending for a limited distance on either side of the roller on the article engaging side thereof substantially parallel to the path of the articles to drivingly engage and momentarily pinch the articles on said conveyor tor marking, whereoy said articles are released for tree conveyance by the conveyor after they have passed beneath the printing roller.

10. in a machine for marking articles as they are individually fed in spaced relation from a group onto a movable conveyor, means in the form of a driven endless belt surmounting the articles in parallel spaced relation from the conveyor and articles, a freely rotatable marking device above the articles having means extending into momentary engagement with the articles and depressing the lower reach of said belt in driving engagement, said belt extending for a limited distance on either side of the roller on the lower reach thereof substantially parallel to the path of the articles to drivingly engage and momentarily pinch the articles against the conveyor in a restricted region of said belt, said endless belt engaging each article in a different region from the conveyor and from the marking device to prevent damage to the article surface during the marking operation.

11. In a marking machine having means for supporting and transversely moving articles in spaced relation along a common plane, an endless belt drivingly supported on a pair of pulleys each mounted in spaced relation from the articles and from each other along the article supporting plane, a marking roller freely supported for rotation between the pulleys and having marking devices adapted to contact successive articles, said roller having means extending closer to the articles than either of said pulleys, and drivingly engaging the belt, said belt extending for a limited distance from either side of the roller on the article engaging side thereof substantially parallel to the path of the articles to drivingly contact successive articles and momentarily pinch them against their support while the marking device contacts the corresponding article during relative movement along their support.

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